A recent study from Credit Suisse revealed some alarming information about Europe's largest banks. We already knew that Europe's largest banks are mired in so-called "sovereign debt," that owed them by the various government's of the Eurozone. The Credit Suisse study found that in addition to sovereign debt, most of Europe's largest banks still have billions in toxic assets that were acquired prior to the credit crisis in 2008. Most of these toxic assets are related to real estate/mortgages, CDOs, etc. that were bought prior to the recession and are now presumably worth far less than face value. In short, European banks have done a lousy job of cleaning up their balance sheets and writing off troubled assets.

Following that discussion, we will revisit the so-called "Super Committee" that is trying to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. As you might expect, the committee of six Republicans and six Democrats is deadlocked as this is written, and the real deadline is next Monday, November 21 when the committee needs to present its deal to the CBO for scoring. The bottom line: I don't think the Super Committee is going to agree on $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. Read on and I will tell you why.